Hosted calling service

• US 8,417,791 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Peretz, Ervin, Braithwaite, Jennifer W., Ludwig, Scott R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dailey, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, NAM T
• Application Number:
  US11/480,279
• Time in Patent Office: 2,475 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/18 using different networks or channels, e.g. using out of band channels cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving distinctive intermediate devices or communication paths H04L9/0827; cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for authentication using a plurality of channels H04L9/3215

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for calling a party using a hosted calling service is disclosed. The method includes receiving at a calling module, using a standardized interface, a call request from a remote client, the standardized interface enabling interoperability between the calling module and heterogeneous remote clients, generating a call to a party specified by the call request, and transmitting a response received from the party to the remote client for client-specific processing.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a calling module, using a standardized interface, a call request from a remote client, the standardized interface enabling interoperability between the calling module and heterogeneous remote clients, wherein each of the heterogeneous remote clients comprises a computing system that provides a computer-based service to at least one user for which the computing system verifies an identity of the at least one user by providing a call request to the calling module;

in response to the received call request, identifying, by the calling module, a first message to audibly transmit to a telephone specified by the call request;

generating a telephone call over a telephone network to the telephone specified by the call request and audibly transmitting the identified first message to solicit first information from the person who answers the telephone, wherein the generated telephone call solicits information from a person who answers the telephone, and wherein the remote client uses the solicited information to verify an identity of the person who answered the telephone or an entity for which the person who answered the telephone is a representative or an agent;

providing, by the calling module, the solicited first information to the remote client for client-specific processing;

during the generated telephone call, receiving a command from the remote client to solicit second information through the generated telephone call from the person who answered the telephone;

identifying, by the calling module and based on the received command, a second message, that is different than the first message, to audibly transmit to the telephone to solicit the second information;

audibly transmitting, by the calling module during the telephone call, the identified second message to the telephone through the generated telephone call to solicit the second information; and

providing, by the calling module, the solicited second information to the remote client for client-specific processing;

wherein at least a portion of the client-specific processing is performed after termination of the generated telephone call and comprises verifying, based on at least one of the first information or the second information, an identity of the person or the entity, and wherein the person or the entity is a user of the remote client.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving call modification information from the remote client used to modify the call to the telephone, wherein the call modification information is received while the telephone call is in progress and identifies a modification to be made to the telephone call the information being based on the client specific processing of the response transmitted to the remote client.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the call modification information specifies the calling module should play a different message during the generated call from a currently played message.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the call modification information specifies the calling module should terminate the call.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information received from the telephone comprises a dual tone multifrequency (DTMF) response.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising translating the DTMF response to text before transmitting it to the remote client.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information received from the telephone comprises a verbal response.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising translating the verbal response to text before transmitting it to the remote client.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the call request comprises an identifier for a recorded message to be played to the telephone.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising retrieving the recorded message from a storage location using the identifier.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the call request comprises a recorded message to be played to the telephone.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the call request comprises a telephone number of the telephone to be called.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote client is a web server that prompts users to enter information used in generating call requests.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving from the remote client a status request that prompts the calling module to transmit the first information.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting information in response to the status request, the information specifying whether or not the generated call was terminated.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the transmitted response comprises information not previously transmitted to the remote client.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the audibly transmitted first message, receiving at least a portion of the solicited first information from the telephone through the generated telephone call;

during the generated telephone call, receiving a status request from the remote client for a status of the call request; and

in response to the status request, providing the remote client with the received portion of the solicited first information, wherein the remote client is configured to determine subsequent actions to take with regard to the call request based upon the received portion of the solicited first information;

wherein the received command is provided by the remote client in response to the portion of the solicited first information being provided to the remote client, and wherein the received command is determined by the remote client based upon the received portion of the solicited first information.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to transmitting the first response to the remote client, receiving a second command to terminate the generated call with the telephone; and

in response to receiving the second command, terminating the generated call with the remote client;

wherein the second command is provided by the remote client based upon client-specific processing of the first response by the remote client.

19. A system comprising:

a standardized client interface configured to receive call requests from heterogeneous remote clients, wherein each of the heterogeneous remote clients comprises a computing system that provides a computer-based service to at least one user for which the computing system verifies an identity of the at least one user by providing a call request to the standardized client interface;

an audio file database to store first messages and second messages to audibly transmit to telephones specified by the call requests, wherein the telephones are separate from the remote clients;

a calling module that is programmed to generate telephone calls over a telephone network to the telephones associated with the call requests, wherein the generated telephone calls solicit information from people who answer the telephones, and wherein the remote clients uses the solicited information to verify identities of the people who answered the telephones or entities for which the people who answered the telephone are representatives or agents;

an audio player that is programmed to audibly transmit the identified first messages over the generated telephone calls to solicit first information from the people who answer the telephones;

a calling interface to provide the solicited first information to the remote clients for client-specific processing;

a call manager that is programmed to i) receive, during the generated telephone calls, commands from the remote clients to solicit second information through the generated telephone calls, and ii) identify, based on the received commands, a second message, that is different than the first message, to audibly transmit to the telephones to solicit the second information;

wherein the audio player is further programmed to audibly transmit, during the telephone calls, the identified second messages to the telephones through the generated telephone calls to solicit the second information;

wherein the calling interface is further programmed to provide the solicited second information to the remote clients for client-specific processing; and

wherein at least a portion of the client-specific processing is performed after termination of the generated telephone calls and comprises verifying, based on at least one of the first information or the second information, an identity of the people or the entities, and wherein the people or the entities are users of the remote clients.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the call manager is further programmed to receive call modification information from the remote clients that is used to modify the generated telephone calls to the telephones, wherein the call modification information is received while the telephone calls are in progress and identifies modifications to be made to the telephone calls.

21. A system comprising:

a telephone call control module at a remote client to generate telephone call requests for transmission to a standardized interface of a server, wherein the standardized interface of the server is configured to accept telephone call requests from heterogeneous remote clients, wherein the telephone call requests specify telephones that are to be called over a telephone network by the server, wherein each of the heterogeneous remote clients comprises a computing system that provides a computer-based service to at least one user for which the computing system verifies an identity of the at least one user by providing a call request to the calling module, wherein the server is configured to generate telephone calls to the specified telephones over the telephone network in response to receiving the telephone call requests, wherein the telephone calls generated by the server solicit information from people who answers the telephones, and wherein the remote client uses the solicited information to verify identities identity of the people who answered the telephones or entities for which the people who answered the telephones are representatives or agents;

an interface at the remote client to receive, during the generated telephone calls and from the server, first information solicited by the telephone calls;

wherein the telephone call control module is further configured to generate, in response to the first information received by the interface, commands to solicit second information through the generated telephone calls, the generated commands to be transmitted to the server, wherein transmission of the generated commands to the server causes the server to modify the generated telephone calls so as to solicit the second information;

wherein the interface is further configured to receive the solicited second information from the server; and

a processing module at the remote client to process at least the second information, wherein processing the second information is performed after termination of the generated telephone calls and comprises verifying an identity of the people or the entities based on at least one of the first information or the second information, and wherein the people or the entities are users of the remote client.

22. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage device, the computer program product including instructions that, when executed, perform operations comprising:

receiving, at an interface, a call request from a remote client, the interface enabling interoperability between a calling module and heterogeneous remote clients, wherein each of the heterogeneous remote clients comprises a computing system that provides a computer-based service to at least one user for which the computing system verifies an identity of the at least one user by providing a call request to the calling module;

in response to the received call request, identifying, by the calling module, a first message to audibly transmit to a telephone specified by the call request;

generating a telephone call over a telephone network to the telephone specified by the call request and audibly transmitting the identified first message over the generated telephone call to solicit first information from the person who answers the telephone, wherein the generated telephone call solicits information from a person who answers the telephone, and wherein the remote client uses the solicited information to verify an identity of the person who answered the telephone or an entity for which the person who answered the telephone is a representative or an agent;

providing, by the calling module, the solicited first information to the remote client for client-specific processing;

during the generated telephone call, receiving a command from the remote client to solicit second information through the generated telephone call from the person who answered the telephone;

identifying, by the calling module and based on the received command, a second message, that is different than the first message, to audibly transmit to the telephone to solicit the second information;

audibly transmitting, by the calling module during the telephone call, the identified second message to the telephone through the generated telephone call to solicit the second information; and

providing, by the calling module, the solicited second information to the remote client for client-specific processing;

wherein at least a portion of the client-specific processing is performed after termination of the generated telephone call and comprises verifying, based on at least one of the first information or the second information, an identity of the person or the entity, and wherein the person or the entity is a user of the remote client.